NEW YORK -- Dwight Howard, the hulking, grinning star whose indecisiveness shadowed the Nets for all of last season will be conspicuously absent from the court when the Lakers visit the Barclays Center tonight. He will miss the game, his third straight, due to a torn labrum in his right shoulder.

Mike D'Antoni, the Lakers coach, today defended the toughness of his starting center.

"He's got the pain," the coach said. "I don't have the pain. I wish he could play."

Soon after D'Antoni offered hope his center would be patrolling the Barclays Center paint tonight, Howard, the NBA's leading rebounder, ruled himself out.

Metta World Peace, a native of Queens, will also be absent from the Lakers rotation tonight. The NBA suspended World Peace one game today for hitting the face of Brandon Knight, the Pistons guard, Sunday in Detroit.

It was an odd scene in many ways. On the sixth floor of the New York Athletic Club, the Lakers took their shots on the court while club members exercised on stationary bikes, the two groups separated by a thin floor-to-ceiling net. At one point a member walked through the line of reporters and players and team personnel.

The Lakers seem to be figuring things out lately, winning five of their last six games by shifting the roles of their personnel. Kobe Bryant, third in the NBA in scoring, has become more of a facilitator, averaging 10 assists in those six games. Steve Nash, the primary ballhandler and distributor under D'Antoni when the point guard won two MVPs in Phoenix, has taken a more ancillary role.

Nash said in doing his part to allow four All-Stars to mesh, he's willing to do less, even if it comes at a cost.

"I've been playing a lot more off the ball a lot more lately and it's uncomfortable for me," Nash said. "But I'm trying to really embrace it, enjoy it and trying to get better at something to expand my game a little bit and just trying be as enthusiastic as possible."

By comparison, the Nets seemed serene. No longer hounded by rumors that Howard may be on his way to the team via trade, all was quiet at their practice facility in East Rutherford. Even when Deron Williams said Monday he is no longer very close with Howard, it seemed to distance the Nets from the unrest of last season.

Brook Lopez, who would have been replaced by Howard, evaded questions concerning his Lakers counterpart. Williams noted that the Nets center's All-Star season is in part due to the absence of trade rumors.

Howard admitted in November that Brooklyn had been his hopeful destination, before the Orlando Magic traded him to Los Angeles last offseason. Tonight he'll make his first appearance at Barclays Center, although under different circumstances than he would have wished.

"I'm looking forward to our team coming out and having another good game," Howard said. "That's the biggest thing. We need another win. We're playing a good team and it's going to be a challenge."